To Tracy Arm again!

I tried to replicate the trip I had done with my sister a month ago again, but this time with my brother, Abe, and his wife, Katrina.  We started off with the Midway Islands, and there were lots of birds there, but no oystercatcher nests, instead, we had lots of oystercatchers!  Also a few Surfbirds, like the one above.  Is it a Longbird or a shortbird?  I wonder if they start out as boogie-birds?  

There were also some sleepy seals.

This one was very tired.  This next one was less tired, but very cute.

And we found some Black Turnstones.  They were not turning over any stones, but looking sternly at some mussels, and flexing them (with their bills).  I saw one open one up and gobble up the insides.

From there we went up Tracy Arm and saw the South Sawyer Glacier.  It was a bit more icy and less windy than with my sister, so there wasn't much of a pathway to get to the face, but we got fairly close.  Here you can see some seals in front for perspective.

And another view, but no perspective.  

We went to North Sawyer and anchored but didn't go for a walk since the tide wasn't low enough, but I flew the kite to get a picture.

Then we found some whales at the entrance, and had a few nice sightings, It was rainy.

We explored up into Ford's Terror, but it was rainy and I didn't take many pictures.  But then we went to Port Snettisham again and found a stream full of salmon, and loads of bears eating them!  The bears were accustomed to people and so we were able to get quite close, so I have a lot of bear photos.

There was a mother with three cubs, but on the second day we saw her again and she only had two.  I think one must have been lost.

Here's mama bear chasing after a salmon

And the cubs dutifully following her.

One of the cubs got curious.  Look at the size of those paws!  Bears have big paws for their size.  Why did the bear cub fall down the stairs?  ....     .......     ........   ?     ......   ........  ....?  ?  

?   ?............

...Awkward paws.

Here's a bear that got pretty close to us while we were in the canoe

And then it was trying to pretend that we weren't there.

This bear was trying to maneuver around us and watching our reaction.  There was a lot of push and retreat going on here as the bears were all trying to get to the best fishing spots and steal fish from each other, and we just posted up on the hill and watched it all.  A few bears tried to move us in a dominance move, but I wouldn't let them, and they eventually just walked past and went on to the fishing or eating grass spots that they wanted to go to in the first place.  

 It was a great trip, aside from the copious amounts of rain we had, but on the plus side we got lots of rainwater to drink and wash dishes with.  This summer is the rainiest I've ever seen.  I think its a record.  I'm going to start working my way south in a week or two and try to get back to Bellingham before the end of September.

Juneau and Glacier Bay again

I spent about a week in Juneau, and I did a few hikes that like; climbing Mt Juneau!  There are lots of Marmots on the top.

There are lots of Mountian Goats on the top too.

And here's the view of the valley.  Looking west you can see the fairweather mountains.

Then I took my friend Tyler and we headed out to Glacier Bay.  We set off for the East Arm and passed by South Marble Island, and saw the sea lions there.

Also we got some close puffins.  This one's a Tufted Puffin

And here's a Horned Puffin

Then we found a family of bears on the beach.  These little ones must be this year, and right next to them there was another family of four as well.  An 8 bear beach!  

The other family of four were bigger.  Here's mama with one cub practicing rolling over rocks together.

There were lots of bears on the beach, this one let us get real close, she's got some barnacles on her muzzle.

Then we went in to McBride Inlet.  It used to be this terrifying inlet to go into, with huge currents (they still exist) and giant blocks of ice grounded in the middle of the current (no more) and smaller (but still big) growlers bouncing off them as they flowed with the current.  Sadly there was almost no ice in the flow as we paddled in, but we had lots of current, something like 8-10 kts and so we went fast.  Then we paddled a long ways to get to the face of the glacier.  It looks like most tidewater glaciers.

Here's Tyler in front of McBride

We got out and climbed up for a better view.

And got a picture of ourselves in front

On our way out we had lots of rain and there was a great rainbow

And lots of wind too.  Going up Lynn Canal it was big waves and lots of wind and here's tyler steering the boat.  Layla held up great to the trip and despite all the rain and the big seas we had to crash through, I haven't found anything broken.  Its really rainy for the next two days and then Abe shows up and we'll go for another trip.